


slips and tangles

by DarkVictory



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Flustered Daryl, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Hilarious misunderstandings, Humor, Humour, M/M, happy fic, post-war with saviors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 14:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10026929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkVictory/pseuds/DarkVictory
Summary: Everything Jesus says sounds sexual and Daryl wonders if he's living in a cuckoo clock.  Fun and fluffy!  This is an extension of a few lines in my fic, A Dustland Fairytale, where Jesus seems to be using a lot of euphemisms.(takes place in a future time after our heroes have fought the Saviors and triumphed and are celebrating with a party in Alexandria!)(minor edits made for clarity, April 4/17)





	

**Author's Note:**

> title is a song by The Weakerthans

********

“You look hot, Daryl.”

“The fuck did you say?” Daryl whipped his head around to find Jesus settling into the lawn chair next to him.

“Hot. You look hot.”

Daryl opened and closed his mouth a few times, all of his snarly attitude abandoning him. Only the Hilltop hippie could make him feel this way: embarrassed, awkward, tongue-tied.

Jesus cleared his throat. “I think you’re too close to the bonfire,” he elaborated. “You look hot; your cheeks are really red. C’mon, let’s move back a bit.”

Daryl ducked his head as he dragged his chair back a few feet. Once again, Paul was teasing him.

“Great party. I know it’s celebrating things getting back to normal but I’m pretending it’s a ‘Welcome to Alexandria’ party for me, too.” He smiled sweetly at Daryl.

“Likin’ your house so far?”

“Oh, it’s great having all that space to myself. Although…is your bed as cold as mine?”

“What?” Daryl growled.

“It’s really cold at night; I had to add a few blankets. Is your house like that too?”

“Uh, yeah…” He couldn’t figure out what Paul was doing. Usually he delighted in testing Daryl, eyes twinkling, head thrown back in laughter. But not now. He was acting completely serious.

“We can finally relax a bit, huh? Take it easy.” He gave Daryl a knowing look. “Is it making you as crazy as it’s making me?”

“Yeah.” Daryl let out a breath, relaxing a little. “Not that I want more crazy fuckers trying to kill us. But all I can do now is scavenge and hunt, and the area’s not providing much for either.”

“I think we need to try things we’ve never done before,” Paul said very seriously, holding the other man’s gaze.

“Like taking longer trips, going further out?” He refused to take the bait this time, answering Jesus’ question seriously.

“Exactly! What do you say? You and me, we’ll be the new Odd Couple.”

“Sure,” Daryl said flatly.

“Sounds great. And I can show you the ropes since I’m more experienced.”

“Right.”

“I’ve gone on some long scavenging trips. Gotten in some _really_ tight spaces so it’ll be nice having you in there with me.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I tend to move pretty fast, though, so you’ll wanna keep up with me or I will _ride. your. ass_.”

“Enough!” Daryl exploded, leaping out of his chair. Everyone around the campfire stopped talking and stared at him.  He muttered “Sorry” and stalked off to his house.

Jesus caught up with him on his front porch. “Daryl, stop, what’s going on?”

“You had your fun, just go, and leave me alone.”

“What? I don’t understand what just happened, help me out here.”

Daryl searched Paul’s face for a hint that he was still teasing. He saw only genuine confusion and hurt. “But you…you’ve been messin’ with me all night.”

“What?  No, I haven’t.”

“Oh come on! ‘You look hot’? ‘I’ll ride your ass’? You can’t let even one day go by without teasing me somehow?”

“Oh…wow…all of that was completely unintentional. I meant all of those things literally. I wasn’t teasing, I swear.” Daryl scoffed.  “I mean it!  Please believe me.”

“Why should I? Most days it seems like your only goal is to embarrass me.”

“I know. And I thought I should ease up on that. I wasn’t trying to tease you tonight; I was just trying to make normal conversation.”

“Wait, after months of teasing, you decided to finally give me a break?”

Paul sighed sadly. “No. After months of _flirting_ , with no response from you, I decided to give up. So I wasn’t teasing you tonight, I swear. And I won’t be teasing you again, okay?”

Daryl shifted from foot to foot, confused. “Then how come everything you said sounded dirty?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t _trying_ to tease. Maybe they were just Freudian slips.”

“Froy-what?”

“It’s where your subconscious desires are revealed in your speech without you intending to do so.”

“The hell does that mean?”

“It’s like…if you were staring at Maggie’s breasts and then asked her to pass the butter, you might accidentally ask her to pass the nipples, or something.”

“Why the hell would I be staring at Maggie like that?” Daryl growled.  “She’s my friend. And a widow! And pregnant!”

“I know! It was just an example, I’m not saying—“ Paul broke off with a sigh and rubbed his temples. “Do you get the concept, though? Of saying what you’re thinking without meaning to?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

“So maybe that’s what I was doing. I promise you, it wasn’t intentional, and I’m sorry.” He turned and walked down the steps.

“Wait…” Jesus turned back. “So this thing…” Daryl hesitated. “This whatever-slip, can it work in other ways?” He kept his eyes on the ground and chewed at a thumbnail.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you can _say_ stuff without meaning to, maybe you can _hear_ stuff that way?” Paul slowly climbed the steps again with a wary expression and Daryl continued nervously, “Maybe you can hear your own subconscious desires in what other people say. You weren’t teasing— _flirting_ , at all, but that’s what I heard, because that’s what I _wanted_ to hear.”

A slow grin was spreading over Jesus' face. “Yeah, maybe. Why don’t I come inside and _not_ flirt with you some more?”

Daryl nodded shyly and held open the door.

*****


End file.
